Ethernet is a widely installed local area network (LAN) technology. Ethernet technology can be cost effective, easy to configure, and is widely understood by network managers. Ethernet technology is increasingly being deployed in service provider metro and wide-area networks. Success of Ethernet in provider networks depends on the ability to provide service level agreements (SLAs) that can guarantee bandwidth, delay, loss, and jitter requirements to end-users. Service providers can offer multiple services with different quality-of-service (QoS) characteristics and performance guarantees.
The base Ethernet technology is specified in the IEEE 802.3 standard. Traditionally, Ethernet did not include QoS capabilities. More recently, the IEEE has introduced the user priority capability that enables the definition of up to eight classes of service (CoS). The user priority capability is often referred to as “the p-bits.” The p-bits are carried in the 802.1Q tag and are intended for use to identify different service classes.
An Ethernet network may include multiple customer edge (CE) devices, switches, and routers. These devices may communicate using the Ethernet protocols and/or other networking technologies and protocols.